Subject:
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Re: And you call yourselves fans...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 23 Nov 2003 13:24:35 GMT
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In lugnet.general, Orion Pobursky wrote:
> Instead of posting this message to all of the related threads, I decided to
> start my own...
>
> Ever since Jake announce the color change I've read about 100 messages
> whining about how LEGO has betrayed the fans. I say it's the opposite.
> I think everyone who's whining has betrayed LEGO.
Only 100? I've read about 500 messages, most of which have been eloquent
explainations of how this very subtle color change will cause problems for an
apparent majority of LUGNETters. (Maybe you should read the other 400 and see
what facts you overlooked.)
Jake didn't announce the color change until after there had already been about
100 messages about it. The fact is, TLC simply dumped the new colors into
production without saying anything about it here.
> Why do I say this? Well, 2 reason stick out in my mind:
> 1. I, and I would assume many others, look upon LEGO as an old friend. If an
> old friend told me he was changing his look, I'd support him in his decision and
> not criticise him for going against tradition
And if my old friend is walking out the door with a stream of toilet paper
hanging out the back of his pants, I'd definitely tell him about it. This color
change WILL appear to most people to be a quality control issue, regardless of
the fact that it was an intentional change. Colors that are nearly the same but
don't quite look right are going to make many models look as bad as when you mix
new White bricks with old yellowed White bricks. Most of the time, this is not
a desireable effect.
But you have it wrong. The bricks themselves are my old friend, and I assure
you that they do not care one bit about what I type here about TLC. The company
itself is a for-profit venture to which I have personally given tens of
thousands of dollars to create my collection and thousands of hours of my time
to evangelize to others. If you doubt this, please see
http://www.drvegetable.com/ and http://www.nelug.org/ which are both testament
to my committment to this hobby and my willingness to display my LEGO creations
to the general public.
> 2. If you trely want to call yourself a creative modeller, you will find new
> and inventive ways to incorporate these changes into you creations.
I do not doubt that there will be creative ways to use the color variations in
interesting models. I have done this myself using a mix of the three shades of
gray that we already had available to us. But if this mottled effect is so
great, TLC could simply have made a wider variety of bricks available to us in
the Very Light Grey color that is already available in the Mosaic Maker sets.
There was no reason to pull the rug out from under those of us who value color
the very consistency that has been a staple of the LEGO brand. Many people here
have said repeatedly that we welcome new colors, but we love the old colors even
more and do not want to see them discontinued.
Besides, whether you like it or not, we've got a six-month supply of off-color
bricks in the production pipeline that will be available for this purpose. If
you don't mind the old colors being discontinued, then would you really mind so
much if TLC discontinued the new colors in six months and brought back the old
ones?
> As you can see, whining get you nowhere.
Actually, we have not yet seen this. So far, LEGO has not formally responded to
this issue (give them time) but they certainly promised to do so when I wrote to
them via e-mail. I think they will have to address this issue one way or
another, and it remains to be seen where complaining will get us.
> In fact, all the complaining lately
> has contributed to a negative atmosphere for all of us. I say stop
> bellyacheing and get back to makeing the amazing models I'm used to seeing.
Well in the last week, I have:
1. Participated in a weekend-long train show
2. Prepared for a holiday town display that will take place this evening in one
of the LEGO Retail Stores to benefit a charity event at a local mall.
3. Worked on enhancing no fewer than three different pieces of FREE SOFTWARE for
the benefit of the LEGO community
4. Contributed ideas to a discussion about ways to use DCC on LEGO train layouts
5. Sorted my LEGO collection to prepare for the chaos that this color change is
going to cause for me
6. Written to and called LEGO Consumer Affairs to let them know how the color
change will impact my enjoyment of this hobby
7. Provided positive feedback to almost everyone who has posted here about a MOC
I understand that some people are getting sick of hearing about this issue, but
this is probably the most profound change that LEGO has made to their products
since I left my Dark Age. (Yes, even more profound than the introduction of the
click hinge!) With one brush stroke, TLC has managed to affect the consistency
of every single product in their entire catalog. This is no Jack Stone set that
we can choose to ignore on the store shelves, this is a permanent change to the
products that we all know and love.
So until I hear a response from TLC about this issue, you'd better turn your
whine filter on.
- Chris.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | And you call yourselves fans...
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| Instead of posting this message to all of the related threads, I decided to start my own... Ever since Jake announce the color change I've read about 100 messages whining about how LEGO has betrayed the fans. I say it's the opposite. I think (...) (21 years ago, 23-Nov-03, to lugnet.general) !
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